BoltonTillIDie

SPORTS Shield BWFC, the company owning 37.5 per cent of the shares in Bolton Wanderers, has been liquidated.

A London court decided this morning to uphold a winding-up petition filed by lenders BluMarble over a £5million loan taken out in March last year.

Sports Shield BWFC owner Holdsworth did not contest the decision and his shares are now in the hands of the liquidators.

Talks took place between majority shareholder Ken Anderson, who still owns 57.5 per cent of the shares, BluMarble, Holdsworth and prospective bidders throughout the weekend in an effort to avoid the company being dissolved but failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Wanderers issued the following statement to The Bolton News: “We welcome the verdict and are currently speaking with our professional advisors.”

Sluffy

Admin

Posts : 14422Join date : 2011-12-29

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote:He may be a bellend, but at least he tried to ensure the club stayed alive. The problem is that we now have to keep shovelling shit until were thrown a lifeline.

To be honest you, I, or anyone else could have taken out a loan and secured it on the clubs assets - so Holdsworth is certainly never been a saviour of the club like many seem to think he is/was.

Norpig

it's just the whole mismanagement of the whole sorry saga that annoys me. Why did dear old Uncle Eddie not sort out a sale of the club to someone who actually had the cash to take over?

He must have known for a long time he was going to pull out of the club so why couldn't he have set the wheels in motion sooner? Instead he left it till the last minute to sell to Deano who then had to bring in KA as the other fella dropped out. If the plan to write off the debt was always part of the plan whoever took over then i don't understand why we ended up with Deano at all?

I don't hold KA responsible for any of this by the way, he has at least tried to make things more stable but Davies and Holdsworth deserve all the shit that gets thrown their way over this.

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

Posts : 15653Join date : 2012-01-12

So what happens to the 37.5% shareholding if they've been liquidated? Surely those shares should have appeared in the accounts as an asset, so as they didn't, have they already been handed to the creditors?

Sluffy

Admin

Posts : 14422Join date : 2011-12-29

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote:good explanation on the video but BluMarble are not going to get back £7million surely, whoever they sell to are they? If they don't get enough, do they, as an example say we'll take the Hotel then?

In simple terms - yes!

I guess however that it all boils down to whether or not it was legal to do what Holdsworth did by taking out the security of the loan to SSBWFC against the clubs assets - by himself (technically a minority club shareholder) - without board or any other club owner approval.

As the clubs secretary witnessed Holdsworth signature to the deal on the club assets - I guess he must have thought the deal was legal at the time - and since nothing has been done about it by Anderson (on the face of it anyway) to get it thrown out by legal action - I guess he must also believe it was legal also.

(Maybe the club secretary had power to act for all the little shareholdings - and thus with Holdsworth shares, made it possible to sign against the clubs assets in a position representing the majority view of the club owners at that time?).

I would think if Andersons accepts that there is a legal contract over the clubs assets then he better start making plans to pay them off!

In May, Anderson said Inner Circle Investments had acquired approximately 30% of Sports Shield to assist with resolving the matter with BluMarble, leaving Sports Shield with a 37.5% share and Inner Circle with 57.5%.

Monday's hearing had been adjourned by 14 days at the EFL's request, as they considered a proposal from BluMarble's lawyers to resolve the issue, and Anderson said he hoped it would be resolved quickly.

However, counsel for BluMarble, Tom Leary, told Ms Registrar Barber at the hearing: "The settlement has not been forthcoming."

Sports Shield's 37.5% shareholding in Bolton now rests with the liquidator, who can take offers for it - either from BluMarble, Anderson or a third party.

Sluffy

Admin

Posts : 14422Join date : 2011-12-29

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote:What an absolute shambles! How did Eddie even let this happen? I thought he would only sell to someone who had sustainable plan in place? Dean had no fucking plan whatsoever. Arsehole!

Dean had a plan alright - he borrowed £5 million and put just£4 million into the club.

Sluffy

SPORTS Shield BWFC, which owned more than a third of the shares in Bolton Wanderers, was liquidated today.

The company, owned by former player Dean Holdsworth, was wound up at the Bankruptcies and Companies Court in London. Its 37.5 per cent stake in the club is now in the hands of insolvency specialists, Quantuma.

The winding-up order was brought by Blu Marble, a lender who loaned £5m to Sports Shield BWFC in March last year to purchase the club from former owner Eddie Davies. The loan – which with interest has now swollen to a reported £7m – has been in default for a number of months.

Andrew Hosking has now been appointed as the liquidator. His job is to recoup the debt on behalf of Blu Marble. The funds may be raised via the sale of shares to a third party, or to Bolton Wanderers chairman Ken Anderson, whose 57.5 per cent stake remains unaffected.

In a statement, Mr Anderson said he accepted “that there could be detrimental knock-on effects for the club”, and added that he was doing his “utmost to ensure this does not happen”.

One of the potential ramifications could be a points deduction.

A spokesman for the Football League confirmed that would be discussed at a meeting next month. He said: “The EFL notes today’s decision of the court in relation to Sports Shield BWFC. The executive will review the decision in the context of our rules and provide a report to the board at its next scheduled meeting in September.”

Holdsworth expressed his disappointment that a deal intended to prevent liquidation of the company could not struck after discussions with two interested purchasers, one of which is based in the town, fell short over the weekend.

“I am so disappointed in this action,” he said. “For the good of the club SSBWFC had reached an agreement with a third party and they had also reached an agreement in principle with Blu Marble. They had shown they had the financial ability to take the club forward and lift the embargo to help the team and give the club stability.

Unfortunately, because of the demands of others, an agreement could not be reached therefore this enable Blu Marble to take action to protect their interests. The Blu Marble agreement secured the club’s future for Burnden Leisure Ltd (Wanderers’ parent company) when we were minutes away from administration. The matter is still legal. I shall be making further statements on this in the future when the time is right.”

Anderson confirmed in a statement on the club’s website he had dealt with a number of approaches from UK and international prospective buyers and used board advisor Paul Aldridge to manage discussions.

“As I have said in the past, if someone with the wherefore and financial resources to take the club forward comes along, then l am always happy to meet with them,” he said.

“So far, however, the various people who have said they are in a position to do so have been unable to provide financial proof of funds and to be honest, have wasted a great deal of our time.

Furthermore, the vultures and pariahs need not apply as this club has achieved a great deal over the last 18 months and is not in the financial position it was when l first became involved.”

Referring specifically to Mr Holdsworth’s statement, he added: “I have seen Dean’s statement today and after taking legal advice, I won’t be commenting at this stage other than to say that the ‘third party’ were given every opportunity to complete a deal.

"Unfortunately they were never able to provide an acceptable proof of funds that would have been acceptable to the EFL or myself. As it now stands, Dean/SSBWFC are no longer a shareholder and all future discussions will be with the liquidator and the EFL.”

The ‘third party’ has also been in contact with The Bolton News to give their version of events. Speaking via a spokesperson, it is claimed Mr Anderson asked for a non-refundable £500,000 to allow access to the club’s books and a total £5m by Monday morning.

"That offer was put to him on Friday and firmed up on Saturday,” the spokesperson continued.

“He then wanted £1m for staying in the Championship during the 2017/18 season and a further £4m if the club reached the Premier League in the next three seasons. This is for a business in which he owned 57.5 per cent of the shares, the whole 95 per cent having only been purchased for £1 in March last year.”

A second party also expressed a wish to buy the club and was introduced to Anderson via the same channels. They were unable to proceed with payment immediately but agreed to explore the possibility of a joint venture with the other potential purchaser.

The consortium claim a 72-hour delay was requested at the weekend to enable solicitors to move funds, which would have in turn prompted BluMarble to remove their winding-up petition, but that the offer was rejected by Mr Anderson.

“Both potential buyers believe jointly, or independently, they had a credible bid which could have avoided the mess that ensued in its entirety,” the spokesperson added.

“We are concerned about the effect this may have on the club and what sanctions the EFL may now wish to impose.”

The group have added they are looking aims to resume talks in the next 48 hours with the liquidator and Anderson to try to complete the purchase “as quickly as possible”.

wanderlust

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote:What an absolute shambles! How did Eddie even let this happen? I thought he would only sell to someone who had sustainable plan in place? Dean had no fucking plan whatsoever. Arsehole!

Dean had a plan alright - he borrowed £5 million and put just£4 million into the club.

The other £1 million apparently being a set up fee for the loan.

Somebody did very well for just a few hours work!

But as it turns out it wasn't Deano. Still fair play to the man for somehow finding the funds minutes before BWFC was about to go into administration.